The present invention involves an adjustable instrument stand used in patient medical treatment. More particularly, the instrument stand is adapted for use during ophthalmic procedures.
Prior known instrument stands used in ophthalmic procedures are typically manually operated units. These stands include an external housing and a weight counterbalanced arm used to support medical instrumentation. The stand requires numerous fine tuning adjustments to place the arm in a desired position relative to a seated patient. It is often necessary for a medical professional to first adjust the arm to allow a patient to be seated. The medical professional must again adjust the arm several times after the patient is seated, depending on the tests or procedures being performed. This manual positioning hampers the efficiency of the medical professionals due to varying physical attributes of patients. Additionally, smaller patients, such as children, require raised seat heights in order for the attending physician to make proper observations. Taller patients, alternatively, require a lower seat height in order to provide the attending physician a correct observational perspective. As a further hindrance to efficiency, once the patient is seated in a proper position, the physician must often leave the patient to alter room lighting levels in order to begin examination procedures. Finally, multiple manipulations of manual seats or observational equipment makes the medical professional prone to repetitive stress syndrome.
It would be desirable to have an instrument stand with power operated and automated positional adjustments for patients to speed observation times and eliminate potential repetitive stress injury. It is also desirable to provide easy access to automated control functions previously manually performed.
Briefly stated, the present invention provides a power operated instrument stand for use in medical diagnosis. The instrument stand includes a housing that defines an interior space. A control signaling device is provided to control at least one of a lamp circuit, room lights, screen/mirror fixation targets, lamp circuit, a patient chair position circuit, and an arm position circuit. A controller is provided in communication with the control signaling device. The controller is connected to an electric motor, which in turn, is connected to an actuator. The actuator is connected to a motor driven arm which extends from a side opening in the housing. A sensor is placed on the motor driven arm and is connected to the controller. The sensor is adapted to stop movement of at least one of the motor driven arm and the patient chair upon contact with an object.